Officials in Kiev accused Moscow of committing a war crime after a grainy video on social media appeared to show several soldiers shooting two surrendered soldiers who emerged from a dugout at gunpoint.
The unverified video shows a soldier emerging from a battlefield foxhole with his hands up and then lying on the ground. A second soldier staggers out and also lies down. The Russian forces then appear to open fire and the video ends.
The Ukrainian Public Prosecution Service said: “The video shows a group of people in Russian uniforms shooting at close range two unarmed servicemen in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were surrendering.”
Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity, date or location of the video clip. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia denies committing war crimes during the 21-month war in Ukraine. Kiev says Russia regularly violates the rules of war.
“The execution of those who surrender is a war crime!” Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said this late on Saturday on the messaging platform Telegram.
“Today a video emerged online of the execution by Russian soldiers of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered as prisoners. This is yet another violation of the Geneva Conventions and a lack of respect for international humanitarian law.”
Deepstate, a popular Ukrainian war blog that posted the video clip, said the footage was filmed near Stepove on the Avdiivka frontline in the Donetsk region.
The prosecutor's office said the incident took place in the Pokrovsk district, a large part of the Donetsk region close to Avdiivka, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.
Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military command Tavria, told the news website Ukrainska Pravda that the video was an “inflammatory confirmation” that Russia violates the rules of warfare on a daily basis.
In March, a Ukrainian sniper was shot dead in a video after defiantly saying “Glory to Ukraine” or “Slava Ukraini,” a phrase that has taken on special meaning as a common public greeting since the war began.
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